Slather on suncream, charge up the Switch, and head outside – another bunch of anticipated and intriguing new eShop releases are lined up for this week.
From Shovel Knight creators Yacht Club Games comes the Game Boy Color era inspired Mina the Hollower, originally planned for late last year. The delay has unquestionably paid off, as it has debuted with a stonking 93% Metacritic, making it one of the highest rated games of the year. “Mina the Hollower is an almost faultless game that combines elements of nostalgic classics we know and love with a healthy dose of Yacht Club’s flair and expertise to make it something that truly stands out as a retro-inspired masterpiece. I could honestly play it forever, with Yacht Club proving that it’s not just a one game studio with yet another bonafide classic,” said The Gamer.
The Switch 2 also gains the comedic hack ‘n slash LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP – with new music, improved visuals and an extra difficulty mode – visual novel Dark Auction, strategic army base builder One Military Camp, and the casual party game Touhou Yukkuri Mountain.
Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen comes to both Switch systems too, garnering review scores higher than you may expect. Good ol’ Bluey. Another new release aimed more towards the younger demographic is Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! which features characters from Avatar, TMNT, SpongeBob, Rugrats and more.
Then there’s Team17’s creature capturing RPG LumenTale: Memories of Trey – which critics appear to be enjoying, praising its mix of ideas old and new – the arcade-style football game Beat the Champions, ink-style action roguelite Realm of Ink, and the Huggy Wuggy avoiding Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5. Two mining adventures are also due, in the form of Wall World 2 and Wales Interactive’s Into the Slimy Mines.
Other releases due include eastasiasoft’s inexpensive racer Nitro City Racing, physics based puzzler Do You even Forklift? – which we reviewed yesterday – stop motion style adventure Judero, and One Move Away – which tells the story of a person’s life through house moves.
Hamster comes to the rescue of retro fans with an Arcade Archives release of Namco’s 1994 polygon packing Ace Driver, a Console Archives release of the vertical shooter Geki-Oh ShienRyu, and a Switch 2 version of 1989’s robot jet shooter Tatakae! Big Fighter. This week’s EGGCONSOLE release meanwhile is 1986’s action puzzler Hercules – a “phantom game” that originally didn’t gain a physical release, giving it an air of mystery.
New Switch eShop releases
LumenTale: Memories of Trey – £21.99
Embark on an unforgettable adventure with LumenTale: Memories of Trey, a captivating Monster Collector RPG set in a beautiful and enchanting world.
Discover an emotional tale of self-discovery, adventure through captivating regions each as unique as their people. Join Trey as he navigates his way through a land full of mystical creatures to reveal the mystery behind his lost memories.
Mina the Hollower – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £17.75
Descend into a frightful world of action-adventure in Mina the Hollower. Take control of Mina, a renowned Hollower hurtled into a desperate mission to rescue a cursed island. Burrow beneath hazards and monsters, whip foes into oblivion, and gear up with an arsenal of sidearms and trinkets. Explore a vast world filled with pixel-perfect graphics, masterful gameplay, beastly bosses, and infectious music. Encounter a cast of bizarre characters, search out secrets in an array of exotic locales, and illuminate the omnipresent darkness in Mina the Hollower, a brand new game from the developers who brought you Shovel Knight!
LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW RePOP Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £41.99
With over 1.5 million copies sold worldwide, the legendary zombie-hunting action game LOLLIPOP CHAINSAW finally returns in a remastered edition!
Using the nimble moves she honed through cheerleading and wielding a massive chainsaw, Juliet slices through hordes of zombies in exhilarating, over-the-top action!
The Chain Hit Hunting system increases chainsaw attack speed as your combo count rises, while the newly added Chainsaw Blaster with auto-fire cranks up the thrill even further!
With improved playability, dazzling visual effects, and brand-new background music, there’s plenty to enjoy.
Enhanced graphics, a newly added difficulty mode, and numerous other improvements bring the game to a whole new level. This isn’t just a nostalgic revival—it’s a fully refined rebirth of Lollipop Chainsaw in every way!
Dark Auction – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £28.79
1981, Somewhere in Europe.
Eighteen-year-old Noah is haunted by the memory of his mother abandoning him as a child.
He lives with his father Leonard, a failed writer obsessed with collecting items related to “Dictator X.”
Noah wishes he would stop, but Leonard refuses to give up his strange obsession, even as they struggle financially.
One day, an auction invitation arrives, addressed to Leonard. Ignoring Noah’s protests, Leonard sets off for the old castle where the auction is to be held, promising to tell Noah everything once he returns.
But Leonard never comes home. With no way to contact him, Noah heads to the castle himself, determined to bring him home—only to witness something shocking.
Trapped inside the castle with the other guests, Noah decided to accept the Auctioneer’s invitation, and take part in the auction himself.
One Military Camp – £20.99 – Switch 2
An evil maniac has conquered all territories in the region, except one. The world’s last hope resides in an old military camp located in this peaceful land. Bring it back to its former glory to recruit and train a brave group of fighters to push back the evil forces.
A roguelike tower defense with a card-driven twist. Build your deck, carve out tunnels, and deploy defences directly into the path of the swarm. Rank up your chosen Guild and rescue your Dwarven crew to get off this frackin’ slime-infested moon!
Touhou Yukkuri Mountain – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £15.49
Touhou Yukkuri Mountain – £15.49
Throw, Merge, and Grow!: Simply drop the “Yukkuri” into the bowl! When two of the same kind touch, they transform into a larger Yukkuri!
Don’t Let Them Fall!: It’s Game Over if the Yukkuri overflow from the bowl…
Aim for the High Score!: Growing them large and triggering consecutive merges (Chains) will skyrocket your score!
Realm of Ink is an Ink-style action Roguelite game. While pursuing the Fox Demon, the swordswoman Red, unexpectedly finds that her life is dictated by the ‘destiny’ within the world of the book. Only by breaking free can she unveil the truth of her existence and challenge the constraints of fate.
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5 – £15.89
In the latest terrifying chapter of the Poppy Playtime saga, you are propelled further into the gruesome depths of the factory, with Playtime’s security system Huggy Wuggy in hot pursuit.
Abandoned by your only allies, your fight for survival gets all the more challenging as you race further into the abyss that is His domain. Here, shadows whisper, and the puppet master who lords over this realm pulls the strings of madness. Can you stand against evil and finally put an end to this nightmare? Every bloody move forward will test your resolve as you uncover secrets years in the making.
Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen – £32.50
Bluey’s Quest For The Gold Pen – £32.50 – Switch 2
Join everyone’s favorite blue heeler with a new story by the show’s creator in Bluey’s Quest for The Gold Pen.
When Dad snatches the Gold Pen Bluey needs to finish her drawing, Bluey and her family are swept into a world of fun and adventure. Explore charming, hand-drawn worlds, uncover hidden treasures, and solve playful puzzles as you help bring the Gold Pen home.
Written by Joe Brumm, this original story features fully-animated cutscenes and exploration-focused gameplay, designed to be enjoyed by fans of all ages.
The world of the Wall awaits. Wall World 2 builds on the mining rogue-lite experience with expanded mechanics, new challenges, and deeper gameplay. Explore procedurally generated mines full of new discoveries and dangers. Extract valuable resources, harness lost technologies, and upgrade your robospider and exosuit to survive against hordes of raging monsters. Venture through incredible biomes and uncover the secrets entombed in the depths of the Wall.
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next! – £24.99
All-Star Nickelodeon Characters: Pick your star player from among 15 iconic Nickelodeon characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more!
Play It Your Style: Choose from over 500 outfits and accessories to customize your Nickelodeon character your way, and show off your personality on the tennis court. Turn the tide of the match with powerful ultimate abilities that are unique to every character!
Silly physics-based forklift game inspired by Ghibli and Japanese car culture! Use your forklift skills in logic puzzles with many unexpected outcomes!
When all you have is a Forklift, everything looks like a palette.
Catch the cutest bugs, train them and win the Summer Beetle Battles Championship in this tiny bug collection game! Upgrade your equipment to find rarer, stronger and shinier little friends.
Kabuto Park is a cute and short bug collection game. Spend a month as Hana, a little girl on summer vacation. Catch the best bugs and level them up, choose your team carefully and fight other kids to become the Summer Beetle Battles champion.
Expect 2 to 4 hours of serene bug catching, exciting little battles and summer vibes.
Beat the Champions is arcade football pushed to the extreme. Face legendary players in explosive matches full of rhythm, skill, and special abilities. Charge up and unleash your powers, control the pitch with precise movements, and make split-second decisions. Timing changes everything.
Outside the box, there are no fouls, creating constant action, riskier confrontations near the goal, and decisive moments that can change the match in an instant. Every game is dynamic and unpredictable, whether in quick matches or tournaments.
Birushana: Winds of Fate – £35.99
Return to the time of war in the all-new Main Routes. Featuring four new love interests, including the Sato brothers, relive moments from the first game from new perspectives and maybe even discover new romance.
Set sail on a ruthless rogue-like pirate adventure where every voyage brings you closer to glory—or to the bottom of the sea. Long ago, you made a cursed deal with the legendary Davey Jones, and now he’s coming to claim your soul. With the clock ticking toward your final confrontation, you must raid ships, hunt treasure, build your crew, and become powerful enough to survive the battle waiting beyond the horizon.
Start your engine and get ready to experience the thrill of street racing in over-the-top arcade style! Choose and customize your ride, navigate through traffic and push your driving skills to the limit as you compete in a wide variety of high-octane challenges. Nitro City Racing is a throwback to genre classics that puts the focus on speed, blending realistic physics with intuitive controls and accessible, endlessly replayable racing modes!
The game tells a comedic and terrifying story – playing as Kat, the player must deliver the pizza to the scary Clown, but she keeps dropping it on the ground and has to make a new one before the Clown hunts her. Find pizza ingredients, food or other items, put them into a pizza and pray that you don’t drop it on your next step. The Clown’s world is full of dangers and surprises: traps, minigames, challenges, weird characters, monsters, puzzles and scares – all in a surreal and funhouse/circus aesthetic.
Néro & Sci ∫ Integral Edition – £13.49
Solve math-based puzzles as you jump from platform to platform in a colorful world made of numbers and geometrical shapes. Join Nero and Sci on their adventure, solo or with a friend, and travel across 4 unique worlds, designed to stimulate logical and mathematical thinking.
When the world is coming to an end, who would you want to speak to one last time?
In that final moment, if you could accompany souls wandering between life and death, what words would you choose to share with them?
Schrödinger’s Call gently unfolds a picture-book-like world.
A novel game brand that delivers novel games casting active YouTubers and VTubers as game characters.
As well as using their names and nicknames, you can enjoy the different sides of your faves and feel a close connection through the novel game that you cannot experience in the usual streaming or video uploads.
Night Swarm is a vampire-themed roguelite RPG bullet hell where you play as a fearsome young vampire lord rising to power. Gather loyal allies, unleash devastating abilities, and fight back against the relentless werewolf hordes that threaten to consume the night.
Island Robot Farm is a relaxing idle farm simulation game. Robots automate farming, production, animal husbandry, and construction to freely develop your massive island.
EGGCONSOLE Hercules PC-8801mkIISR – £5.39
This title is an action-puzzle game originally released by Kogado Studio in 1986.
Players take on the role of Herakuresu-kun, overcoming numerous trials on a journey to meet Lord Deus. Each stage is filled with interactive elements: blocks to move or destroy, springs for jumping, and essential items like axes and keys to unlock doors to the next room. Be on your guard, as enemies such as Saikoropusu, Kikantesu, and Kentaurosu also roam the levels.
The game features over 40 stages in total. Approach each one with caution—one wrong move in your strategy could leave you hopelessly stuck. Notably, this title was never released as a physical package, earning it a reputation as a “phantom” game among Kogado Studio’s catalog. It is a must-play for any fan of the action-puzzle genre.
Sneaky Secret Mission! – £6.02
School, work, home—there are lots of places to play!
Enjoy the thrill as you try not to get caught!
Up to 6 players can join in the fun with a Joy-Con™ for each player!
Watch for the perfect timing to earn as many points as possible!
Micro Overdrive: Home Tour – £9.49
Race tiny vehicles across oversized household tracks in Micro Overdrive: Home Tour, a fast and colourful arcade racing game inspired by classic top-down racers.
Compete through the Home Tour solo mode, unlock new cups and drivers, and master unpredictable tracks filled with playful hazards, sharp turns, and surprising twists.
Play solo or challenge friends in local Cup Mode for up to 4 players. Choose your driver, pick your difficulty, and enjoy quick, chaotic races built for couch competition.
Get ready for an amazing adventure on an alien planet, full of dangers, puzzles and unexpected allies. Only you can help the cat fix his ship and leave this dangerous world.
The main character is a cat, a pilot of a small flying ship. After an accident, he finds himself on an unknown planet, where his goal is to collect fuses to fix the ship and return home.
Inspired by cult classic thrillers, this is an experience that will pull you in – and won’t let go. Dark, intense, and deeply unsettling, every moment pushes you further into the unknown.
In a cruel twist of fate, everything you know is torn apart. Your significant other is kidnapped and you’re next. Trapped by a masked maniac, you must fight to survive by solving intricate puzzles and navigating deadly rooms filled with traps. Uncover buried secrets, piece together the truth, and confront a past that refuses to stay hidden.
Will you escape… or become part of the nightmare?
One Move Away is a 3D, first-person game that blends packing based puzzles with a beautiful art style. Strategically pack away possessions at various stages of three characters’ lives.
As we go through life, the number of possessions we accumulate grows, making packing a difficult task. This vast collection of belongings becomes challenging when it’s time to pack.
Sniff sniff… this scent… One day in dog heaven, Bong-gu wakes from his nap to a very familiar scent. Sniff sniff… it’s dad!. Though faint, surely it is dad’s scent he has been waiting for. Jubilant, Bong-gu escapes dog heaven and embarks on a journey to meet his dad – a journey that may hold unexpected dangers. Just as his dad once found him by some miracle, it is now Bong-gu’s turn to find his dad.
Kiko’s Apple Adventure – £5.49
Kiko the bear has one goal: to bake the biggest apple pie ever for the annual Apple Festival! To do that, Kiko needs lots of apples.
Curious and excited, Kiko sets off on a wooden raft to explore fun and colorful islands, discovering new surprises and collecting apples along the way.
Some naughty creatures are trying to stop Kiko… But Kiko is clever and always one step ahead!
A Frog’s Job 2: Froggina – £4.99
Jump over moving platforms, avoid pits, spikes, and enemies to rescue those souls.
How many souls can you save? Find out in this timeless puzzle platformer.
Midnight Swamp is a dark point-and-click adventure where you will dive into a world of eerie fairy tales. Play as a tourist who must find a way out of a mysterious swamp, where every corner hides a riddle.
A mysterious laugh echoed from the lake on that restless summer night. One careless step outside the tent — and you find yourself dragged into a dark world of shifting swamps, inhabited by strange creatures and filled with hidden secrets.
Soon, a talking Cat convinces you to enter the inhospitable castle rising above the swamp, while the Witch from the gingerbread house teaches you the basics of potion brewing. Will you have the courage to uncover the mystery of this place?
Judero is made from handcrafted objects and bespoke figurines, animated in the stop-motion tradition. For us, this art style invokes something nostalgic; in part comical but perhaps a little bit creepy too. These real life elements are then rendered into a 3D world to evoke a unique visual style. Using this style we can bring in digital techniques like real-time lighting, shaders and post-processing effects. Cutscenes will be made using traditional stop-motion animation techniques with greater fidelity to give a more cinematic quality.
The music in Judero is an homage to traditional British folk music such as those documented by Francis James Child. Many of these songs are hundreds of years old and it has been an honour researching and learning them. We are keeping instrumentation acoustic and mostly authentic to the originals (mostly) but with contemporary arrangements and harmonies.
Next week: FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, eFootball Kick-Off, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers, River City Saga: Journey to the West, Steamboat Incident, Viking Farm, Scarlet Wolf, Golem Lights, Seals from the frosty Bay, and Tale of Dark Lands.